Beppe Grillo and the Schools
(4:02)

Well-educated individuals live longer, have medium to high incomes and are more difficult to hoodwink. Education doesn’t cut corners, has no short cuts and does not consist of dancing girls or escorts. Education is an investment in our own future that offers an extremely high return. A poorly educated nation without any researchers and without any well-qualified and competent teachers has no future. A Country can be defined as the sum total of the level of education of all of its citizens. The piece of paper should no longer simply have a legal value but also a substantive value, namely that of a professional educational qualification. In the United States, all around the Boston MIT, the most important Institute of technology in the entire world, there is a continuous growth in the number of successful enterprises established by former MIT students. Here in Italy, instead, our brilliant young minds either emigrate or land up making photocopies during the course of some or other unpaid internship. The Internet has to become a tool that is available to every teacher and lecturer in every school in the Country. While the Internet grants access to a wealth of digital knowledge, the rucksack full of books that have to be replaced every year is merely a business, a ransom for parents to pay and the source of scoliosis for the youngsters. Teachers must be assessed and paid (well) for their skills. We entrust our children’s education to these individuals yet they are paid less than a manual labourer. The 4th October 2009 will see the birth of a Movement of people, in which every individual will be valued and in which there will be no bosses with big sticks, no districts, no sections, no provincial or regional structures, no membership cards and no dictated policy. The Movement’s 7-point programme will also be put forward covering issues such as Energy, Health, Transport, the Economy, Information, Education and The State and its citizens. Today’s posting includes a proposal regarding the issue of Education, so that you can tell us what you think.

EDUCATION:
- abolition of the Gelmini Law
- compulsory introduction of Internet services in the schools, with access for the students
- gradual abolition of printed school books and their availability, free of charge, in digital form on the Internet
- compulsory English language education starting at nursery school level
- abolition of the legal value of educational qualifications
- Government resources to be allocated only to public education institutions
- assessment of university lecturers by the students
- free Italian language education for foreigners (compulsory if the individual wishes to apply for citizenship)
- free public access to university lectures via the Internet
- investment in university research projects
- distance learning via the Internet
- integration of Universities and Companies
- development of student accommodation structures

Previous topics: Energy, the State and its citizens , Information, the Economy, Transport, Health